Senior Executive Support Officer

DEPARTMENT Housing and Safer Communities POSTHOLDER NA

SECTION H&SC Direct Leadership Team

Responsible to the Business Delivery and Executive Support Manager for:

Providing high-level executive and business administration support to the Director of Housing and Safer Communities, ensuring effective coordination of Directorate operations, governance, and stakeholder engagement.

Managing key functions including executive correspondence, governance compliance, strategic diary and communications management, and casework oversight.

The role requires professional judgment, political awareness, and the ability to liaise with senior stakeholders to support the strategic aims of the Directorate and the Council.

1) Manage and prioritise the Director's schedule, proactively identifying and resolving conflicts, ensuring alignment with corporate priorities, statutory deadlines, and cross-directorate activities. Exercise discretion to determine the most effective use of the Director's time in a politically sensitive environment.

2) Oversee the Director's inbox with autonomy, using sound judgment to triage complex and time-sensitive matters. Draft responses on behalf of the Director where appropriate, escalating politically sensitive or high-impact issues and coordinating timely responses across senior teams.

3) Coordinate complex travel, accommodation, and conference arrangements for the DLT, ensuring cost-effectiveness, compliance with Council policies, and alignment with senior officers' commitments. Exercise judgement to prioritise competing demands and ensure seamless logistical support for national, regional, and cross-sector engagement.

4) Act as the first point of contact for all communications to the Director, including from councillors, MPs, senior officers, and external partners. Apply political sensitivity and strategic judgement to determine the appropriate route for each enquiry, responding directly, allocating to senior managers, or escalating to the attention of

5) Manage and respond to high volumes of complex and politically sensitive correspondence and enquiries from councillors, senior officers, central government, and members of the public. Ensure responses are accurate, timely, and aligned with corporate policy and tone.

6) Prepare responses to correspondence and responding on behalf of the Director of Housing and Safer Communities, as appropriate.

7) Lead on the coordination and quality assurance of reports, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, complaints, and MP or Member correspondence, ensuring governance standards and statutory deadlines are met across the Directorate. Develop systems to track and improve performance and compliance.

8) Draft, edit, and quality assure complex and high-profile documents and reports for the Directorate Leadership Team (DLT), ensuring content is accurate and aligned with corporate priorities. Provide guidance to colleagues on formatting standards, tone, and messaging for internal and external audiences.

9) Lead the production of management reports and briefings, drawing on data analysis and performance trends to support informed decision-making by the DLT and external stakeholders. Identify and flag emerging issues or risks through evidence-based insight.

10) Design and deliver high-quality presentations, data visualisations, and performance dashboards to enable senior officers to deliver their work.

11) Undertake targeted research and analysis to support strategic projects, briefings, and responses to complex enquiries.

12) Check the accuracy of documents and reports to ensure high quality and accurate written material is produced.

13) Manage the overall collation and distribution of documents and papers for meetings to ensure that meeting attendees have access to the correct paperwork.

14) Minute a range of meetings on behalf of the Director of Housing and Safer Communities and members of the Housing and Safer Communities DLT.

15) Handle sensitive information and original paperwork in accordance with agreed procedures and guidelines. Undertake work on sensitive documentation and maintain confidentiality whilst undertaking the role.

16) Develop and maintain good internal working relationships with senior officers and councillors to ensure effective links are developed with all Council directorates, and foster a culture of collaboration.

17) Oversee the collection, verification, and secure management of sensitive casework and correspondence data relating to Members, MPs, and high-level stakeholders. Ensure data quality standards are upheld and that all entries support robust case tracking, performance reporting, and corporate accountability.

18) Interrogate performance databases to extract, analyse, and present data in response to Member enquiries, senior management briefings, and statutory or public information requests. Provide intelligence that supports informed decision-making and strategic responses to cross-organisational queries.

19) Manage the secure archiving and governance of high-level correspondence, casework, and documentation, including materials shared with MPs, senior officers, the Metropolitan Police, and partner organisations. Ensure compliance with Council retention policies, FOI obligations, and data protection legislation, and maintain systems that support effective audit and retrieval.

20) Lead the coordination and delivery of events and high-level meetings on behalf of the Director of Housing and Safer Communities, including stakeholder roundtables, partnership boards, and public engagement sessions. Manage logistical planning, briefing preparation, and stakeholder communications to ensure events are delivered to a professional standard and aligned with the Directorate's strategic priorities.

21) To assist with the learning, development and support of newly appointed and/or temporarily appointed Executive Support Officer

22) Check and coordinate work of Council officers submitting reports for quality purposes and ensuring deadlines are met.

23) Attend meetings both during the day and outside of normal working hours on a regular basis and where required, progress any necessary follow up action.

24) Deputise for the Business Delivery and Executive Support Manager in the absence of that postholder.

25) Approve leave and other absences of members of the Housing and Safer Communities DLT, on behalf of the Director of Housing and Safer Communities.

26) Undertake any other work appropriate to the level and general nature of the post's duties.

27) Where necessary for the job role or appropriate for continued development in the role, the post holder may be required to participate in training and development courses made available via the Council's Apprentice Levy funding.

28) To undertake all duties with due regard to the provisions of health and safety regulations and legislation, Data Protection/GDPR, the Council's Equal Opportunities and Customer Care policies.

29) To perform all duties in line with Council's staff values showing commitment to improving residents' lives and opportunities, demonstrating respect and fairness, taking ownership, working towards doing things better and working together across the Council.

30) You may be required to undertake alternative, additional or ancillary duties from time to time or transfer to another service department within the Council as the Council may reasonably direct to meet service user demand in the event of a crisis or emergency